Keywords: Cutaneous Leishmaniasis
Leishmania
Life Cycle
Protozoan
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Abstract
Leishmania species are intracellular protozoan parasites that spend a portion of their life cycle in the midgut of sand
flies and the remainder in the tissues of mammals. These parasites, which cause a class of human disorders known as
leishmaniasis, live mostly in macrophages, where they multiply and survive by employing a variety of defense
mechanisms against the oxidative stress and acidity generated by these immune cells. To help control their reaction to
heat stress, they also produce heat shock proteins. Furthermore, the promastigote form has a glycocalyx that is
necessary for colonizing the gut wall of the sand fly and completing its life cycle. Consequently, a variety of virulence
factors contribute to the parasite's pathog
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